Learning to Play Violin

A few days ago I was browsing YouTube and happened upon a violin maker and repairman and found the subject of violins to be compelling.  These tiny instruments are made of Maple and topped with Spruce and even those two or three hundred years old can still sound beautiful.  Famous brands like Stradivarius sell for millions of dollars, even though very old.  Antonio Stradavari, the maker, died in 1737.  About 650 Stradavarius violins still exist and are sought after by collectors who are rich enough to buy one as an investment.  Great violinists seek to play them whenever they are offered the chance.  

Intrigued, I bought a beginner violin off of  EBay, a German 4/4 full size violin made of Maple and have been slowly getting it, and myself, ready to operate the instrument.

My first tasks were to rosin the bow and tune the strings.  Rosin is something like tree sap that is rubbed on the horsehair of the bow, otherwise the bow cannot make any sound.  The rosin grips the strings and makes them sound when the bow is drawn across them.

The second task was to tune the strings.  Seeing how thin violin strings are, I became worried about breaking a string if I tuned it too tight.  So I bought an electronic tuner from Adobe and proceeded with caution.  Now the violin is tuned.  The next task is to make nice sounds with the bow, then start practicing scales.  It should be fun and there is plenty of videos on YouTube to educate me in each task.

Weird Stuff Is Happening

 I haven't posted in a while.  Tax season has started and I am in my last tax season as I retire after April 15.  I should have done it sooner.

Some passing thoughts:

1.  Adam the Woo died from natural causes, according to his autopsy report, per his father.  It appears Adam had an enlarged heart.  I am no doctor but it sounds to me like congestive heart failure.  

2. Grisly Ghoul robs graves of skeletal remains.  A 34 year old man, Jonathan Gerlock, is chaged with robbing graves in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania.  He broke into crypts and graves and took human remains, both skeletal and otherwise, of around 100 bodies, apparently to sell.  The remains were from infants to adults who were deceased for 200 years.

3.  The Mess in Minnesota.  Billions of dollars in fraud is reported from America's kookiest state, where Somalian immigrats there have received government funding for non-existent childcare facilities.  Ex-governor Tim Walz is said to have known about the fraud but did nothing about it.  Meanwhile, massive rioting and violence against ICE agents has occurred as Minnesotans fanatically oppose the removal of illegal immigrants from Northern La-La Land.  Minnesota's extreme rebellion against federal immigration law borders on secession from the United States.

4.  The Epstein Files.  Democrat activists have been frantic and obsessed over the release of all of the Epstein files, which are not all in one plaee and not all identified as such, so have not all been released pending redacted to preserve victim privacy.  Since the files number in the millions, this redaction takes a lot of time.  This isn't good enough for the frothing-at-the=mouth crowd who hope and believe the files will prove Donald Trump was a pedophile engaged in child rape and abuse.  Meanwhile, the only top politition so identified as a probably culprit is Democrat Bill Clinton, who refused a Congressional subpoena to testify about the controversy and was hiding in Scotland to avoid it.

Thoughts on Adam the Woo, 1974-2025

Adam the Woo

Adam the Woo, well known vlogger and YouTuber, was laid to rest on January 6, 2026, in Mount Peace Cemetery in St. Cloud, Florida. There is a lot of vloggers who have dedicated memorial posts to him.  I have watched his YouTube posts from time to time, and this past week noticed just how good they are.  You can still watch them on YouTube, dating back nine years or maybe more.

This week I watched his visit to Hollywood, California where he remarked on historic spots therein, places where famous scenes from films were made, the Walk of Fame with Stars dedicated to actors and others, and concrete impressions of famous actors at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.  This is where famous stars like Marilyn Monroe wrote their names in wet concrete along with their handprints and the dates of the impressions.

Another post was on a visit to Adam's birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi, also the birthplace of famous singer Elvis Presley. You can see the tiny house where the Presley family lived, the store where Elvis's mom bought his first guitar, among other places. 

Adam's posts are described as "adventures" and watching them is like having a visit with a friend, seeing and talking about interesting things.  They are enjoyable.